A Jadyn Holiday
by AnimationNut
Summary: Jadyn is back with some holiday hijinks. The Winter Festival has arrived, and of course, Jadyn finds herself in a bit of a mess involving two croc bandits, a kidnapped bunny child, and a ransom plan. The girl just can't catch a break, not even during the holiday season.


**I do not own Kung Fu Panda. Happy first of December! xD**

**A Jadyn Holiday**

The valley was covered in a thick blanket of snow. Fat, fluffy white flakes continued to drift gently from the grey sky. Despite Jadyn's dislike for early mornings, she never complained when it came to the winter season.

The white cub twirled around in the snow, kicking up clouds of white dust. She grinned happily and lifted her face up to sky. "I love winter!"

"And I love snowball fights!"

Jadyn whirled around in surprise and got nailed in the face by a snowball. "Monkey!"

The Kung Fu Master laughed. "You have to be prepared for an ambush at all times."

"Wait, wait. Ambush?"

The rest of the Five and Po came out of nowhere, armed with round, ice-cold projectiles. Jadyn shrieked as she was bombarded and tried to avoid getting struck. "You guys are so going to get it!"

"You're outnumbered six to one!" Mantis taunted. "How are you going to take us on?"

Just as the words left his mouth Jadyn grabbed an armful of snow and thrust it in the air, creating a white veil to hide her. Crane quickly blew the snow away with his wings and groaned. "She's gone. Nice going, Mantis."

"What did I do?" Mantis cried.

"You jinxed it!" Crane snapped.

"Quiet!" Tigress barked. Silence fell and the feline strained her ears for any sign of the young cub. "Shifu did too good a job in teaching her stealth."

"I hate it when she just appears behind me without any warning," Po whispered. "It freaks me out."

"Listen!" Tigress said suddenly, her ears twitching. Her eyes darted around and focussed on the roof of the dojo. "There."

The group fired the snowballs in Jadyn's direction. The girl scowled and flew off the roof and landed on the tree above her teachers. "Bombs away!"

Mantis, Viper and Tigress managed to get away but the others were caught in an avalanche of snow falling from the tree branches.

"Taken down!" Jadyn grinned as she balanced on the bare branch. "So, who's coming up here to get me?"

Tigress smirked. "No one. You'll be coming _down_!"

Before Jadyn could react Tigress (using lightning speed) landed a swift kick to the trunk. The tree trembled and Jadyn lost her balance and fell into a snow drift. "Aw! I got snow down my shirt! I hate when that happens."

"You're going to get some up your nose to!" Mantis taunted and sped forwards. The snow drift exploded, leaving Jadyn exposed. Tigress and Viper launched some more snowballs at the eleven-year old.

"Okay, that's it." Jadyn sprung to her feet and rolled out of the firing zone. "It's time to finish this!"

As she was about to attack a snowball struck her in the side and took her down. Shifu stood by the gates, shaking leftover wet snow from his paw. He arched an eyebrow at his students. "I believe it is finished."

"I almost had them!" Jadyn complained as Po, Monkey and Crane finally climbed out from the pile of snow.

"You did not!" Mantis said. "We would have taken you down in an instant."

"You wish!" Jadyn retorted.

They were both hit with snowballs by Shifu. "If you are quite done, we have to prepare for the Winter Festival."

"I thought we weren't doing that whole fancy feast thing anymore." Jadyn said as she got to her paws and brushed the snow off. "Although watching Po run around like a chicken with its head cut off is pretty entertaining."

"You were no help," Po said flatly as the others giggled. "I ask you to carve the Ice Dragon and you take its head off."

Jadyn flushed and Shifu smiled slightly. "By preparations, I meant that your father would like you to go down and help decorate the shop, Po."

"On it!" Po said excitedly.

"Can I come?" Jadyn asked hopefully. She liked Mr. Ping and loved being in his noodle shop. He gave her free noodles, which Po said meant that the goose like her a _lot_.

"Heck yeah!" Po exclaimed. "Let's go!"

The two sped past Shifu and down the Thousand Steps. Tigress smiled. "Wasn't Jadyn supposed to be doing her chores this morning?" She asked.

"Yes...yes she was." Shifu muttered.

...

"You do realize you'll probably have to do more chores when you get back, don't you?" Po asked as they made their way to Mr. Ping's noodle shop, the cold wind nipping at their bodies.

Jadyn waved her paw dismissively. "I can handle a few extra chores. It's not like I'm a stranger to working hard."

"You just like to avoid doing it." Po grinned and Jadyn rolled her eyes.

"No loves _working_. That's why it's called work."

"My dad loves to work," Po argued. "I love what I do. Lots of people do."

"Ah, that's what I consider to be their _passion_. You can like to work, but it's not what you love." Jadyn explained. "Shall I continue?"

"No thanks." Po punched her playfully in the shoulder. He knew that getting into an argument with Jadyn could last a _long _time. "I'll race you to the shop!"

"You're on!"

Jadyn won the race but Po claimed it was because he slipped on an ice patch and couldn't catch up. "Oh, sure. Make excuses." Jadyn scoffed and entered Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop. "Hello, Mr. Ping!"

"Jadyn! Po! How good it is to see you!" Mr. Ping cried joyfully, hugging them both. "We have much to do today. I was just starting on preparing some of the food for tomorrow. The boxes of decorations are over there. Oh, and don't break anything!"

Jadyn saluted the goose. "You can count on us, sir."

"So long as you don't ask her to carve any ice sculptures," Po grinned as Mr. Ping went back into the kitchen.

The cub glared. "Oh, let it go!" She grumbled and stomped over to the stacks of boxes. She opened one on the top and peered inside. "Looks like I'm hanging the lanterns."

"Try not to fall off." Po cautioned as Jadyn grabbed the box and started to head outside. "Shifu will not be happy if you break your leg and have to miss two months of training."

Jadyn rolled her eyes. "No faith whatsoever," she muttered and easily climbed the walls that surrounded the main eating area of the noodle shop. She carefully removed the Winter Festival-themed lanterns and strung them along the edge of the walls. "Aw!" She laughed as she removed the last lantern, a homemade one, obviously made by Po. "How cute."

For a fleeting moment, she felt a desire to have the same, happy childhood memories of the Winter Festival as Po did. Growing up in the orphanage meant holidays were dismal.

Jadyn hastily shook the gloomy thoughts from her mind. "Not anymore." She said aloud, gently hanging up the last lantern. "The rest of my Winter Festival memories will be awesome ones." She stood up to descend and accidentally slipped on a patch of ice. With a startled yelp, she pitched off the wall and landed in a wooden wagon carrying sacks of flour. "Ha ha! Talk about luck."

For the next few hours she and Po helped Mr. Ping make his shop all festive. The atmosphere gave Jadyn a warm fuzzy feeling inside. She could finally say she loved the holidays.

"It looks wonderful!" Mr. Ping said cheerfully as he studied their work. "Now Po, you will be here early to help cook, right?"

"Of course Dad." Po smiled. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow. Come on, Jadyn. I want a rematch. Race you back!"

Jadyn grinned. "I don't know why you try, but alright."

This time, Po claimed he lost because of a cramp.

...

Since it was late by the time they got back, Jadyn went straight to bed. When she woke up, she was startled to see that the sun was high in the sky. She quickly got dressed and hurried to the kitchen, where she found Monkey and Crane playing Chinese checkers at the wooden table. "What time is it?"

"Nearly the middle of the day." Crane answered. "Shifu told us to tell you that this rare luxury of sleeping in is to be considered a Winter Festival present."

"If the only the Winter Festival lasted every day." Jadyn sighed.

"You know, for a small thing, you sure sleep a lot." Crane remarked, making his move.

"A girl needs her beauty sleep." Jadyn responded. "Where's everyone else?"

"Well, Po's at his dad's shop, and I think Shifu went with him. Everyone else is outside. I'm getting tired of snowball fights." Crane muttered.

Monkey sighed. "And he managed to convince me to stay and play Chinese checkers with him. Exciting, huh?"

Jadyn grinned. "Maybe you'll get lucky and bandits will attack."

Just as the words left her mouth Zeng entered the kitchen. "Masters, a group of pig bandits are attacking the village!"

"Thank you, Jadyn!" Monkey cried gleefully. "Crane, get the others and let's go!"

Jadyn watched them depart. "Great. Now what am _I _going to do?"

She thought about what she usually did when she was bored; taking a nap. "Hmm. I wonder if I can fall back asleep."

To her mild surprise, she did.

...

When Jadyn woke up once more (_I really do sleep a lot_) she scowled at the dark sky. "Well. It was _so _nice of them to come and get me for the festival."

The cub hastily raced out into the cold night, running as fast as she could in the direction of Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop. As she ran, she happened to miss the avian bird flying above, and Crane happened to miss the speedy Corsac cub running below him.

Jadyn was out of breath by the time she reached the end of the Thousand Steps. She stopped running and walked, intending to give her teachers a good dose of sarcasm when she arrived at the shop.

"HELP M-!"

The cry, quickly cut off, caused Jadyn to stop and sharply turn around. It had come from one of the alleyways. Jadyn pressed against the wall and squinted into the dark alley. She could dimly make out a crocodile bandit smuggling a small bunny over a wall, his claw pressed over the poor kid's mouth. "Some festival spirit he has," Jadyn growled and started to go after him.

"Well, what have we here?"

Jadyn yelped as someone plucked her up from the ground. _And of course, the kidnapper has a partner. What a surprise. _She thought bitterly as she glared at the smug accomplice. "An innocent civilian." She spat.

"You look more like a sneaking rat to me." The croc growled. "And my buddy has a way with dealing with rats."

Jadyn scowled as her mouth was covered. Why did everything have to happen to her?

...

"Jadyn's not at the palace." Crane announced, standing before his friends. "And I didn't see her on my way here."

Shifu frowned. "Something's not right."

"Nothing's right with that girl." Tigress said with a sigh. "I'll go look for her-"

"Maybe we should give it a few minutes," Po interjected. "You know Jadyn. She's always late for stuff. She probably got sidetracked by something."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Shifu muttered in concern. But he agreed to wait a few minutes, but no longer than that.

Jadyn had a habit of getting herself in sticky situations.

...

Jadyn glared as the croc tied her in a chair next to the frightened female bunny child. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing. We're just trying to make a living." The croc answered. "Hey, Al, what should we do with the cub?"

The croc called Al peered at her. "I think I know who she is. Isn't she the cub Shifu had taken on?"

"No." Jadyn said quickly-a bit too quickly.

"Yeah, she is!" Al's partner exclaimed. "Does that mean we'll get double?"

"It certainly does." Al grinned greedily.

The bunny started to scream shrilly, panic overcoming her. Al scowled and raised his claw.

"Oh, you're so tough." Jadyn scoffed. "Hitting a small child? How cowardly can you get?"

The claw backhanded her across the face. The bunny immediately went silent, her terrified eyes wide. "Come, friend. We have some messages to send." Al growled.

The two crocs left the kids in the empty, dark and musty cellar. Jadyn ignored the throbbing in her right eye and waited until their footsteps disappeared up the stairs before turning to the child. "Hey, don't be scared. We're going to get out of here."

"Do you really train with Master Shifu?" The bunny asked shakily, frightened tears trailing down her fur.

"I sure do." Jadyn smiled. "Do you think you can tell me what happened?"

"Mama, Papa and I were about to go to Mr. Ping's shop. We do that every Winter Festival." The girl explained. "But then those two bad guys broke into Mama's shop. Papa tried to fight them, but they knocked him out and my Mama next. Then they took me to this scary place." Fresh tears entered her eyes. "I wanna go home!"

"I know, I know." Jadyn soothed. "And you will. Does your Papa do anything important?"

"He's a general. A _very _important general," the bunny said with pride.

_So this must be for ransom. _Jadyn mused. _It makes sense why Al's buddy said they were trying to make a living. Too bad they messed with the wrong cub. _"What's your name?"

"Ming," she answered softly.

"Ming, I'll have you back to your family in no time." Jadyn assured her.

"How?"

"Bandits aren't really the smartest criminals." Jadyn grinned. "They seem to forget that some animals have claws."

Ming watched in awe as Jadyn easily sliced through the ropes with her sharp black claws. "See what I mean?" Jadyn asked as she untied the bunny. "Now, you stay down here. I'm going upstairs."

"Be careful," Ming whispered. Jadyn winked at her and jogged up the creaking wooden steps. There, in the next room, she could see the crocs hunched over a desk, scribbling out their ransom message.

_You want to sneak up on a general and his family? Fine. Now it's someone's turn to sneak up on _you. Jadyn landed a punch to their heads, knocking them both out in an instant. The cub snorted. "Come on, you guys could have offered some sort of a fight."

"You did it!"

Jadyn turned around to see Ming standing in the doorway, holding the rope that had been used to tie her up. "I brought this so you can tie 'em up."

"Thank you. Would you like to help?"

Ming nodded. She cautiously approached and the two tied the bandits up. "They really aren't too smart, are they?"

Jadyn laughed. "Nope. Come on, we have a festival to go to."

...

Ten minutes had passed and Jadyn still had not arrived. Just as the Five were about to go and search for her when General Aiguo burst into the shop, a rag pressed to his bloody wound. "Master Shifu! You must help me!"

"What happened?" Shifu asked in shock.

"Two bandits broke into my wife's shop just as we were leaving for the festival." Aiguo said. "I was taken by surprise and my wife and I were knocked out. They took my daughter! Please, you must help me save her!"

"Tigress, you and Po go with the General. I will see if I can-"Shifu started.

"No need."

Everyone whirled around to the entrance of the shop. Jadyn stood, illuminated by the lanterns, with Ming perched happily on her back. "Papa!" She cried gleefully and raced into his arms.

"What happened?" Shifu asked, staring at his charge's black eye with concern.

Jadyn grinned sheepishly. "I, uh, was coming to the festival when I heard Ming scream. I witnessed her being carried away and I was going to go follow the bandit when I got caught myself."

"Thank you," Aiguo said gratefully. "You are a very brave cub. My wife will be delighted."

"Where is Mama?" Ming asked.

"She is resting at home. She was quite shaken up. We were worried we would never see you again." Aiguo turned to Jadyn. "How did you rescue my child?"

Ming beamed. "Jadyn said that those bad guys were really stupid! And she was right!"

Po, Mantis and Monkey had difficulty in keeping back their snorts. Tigress smirked and Shifu shook his head, amused. Jadyn flushed. "Well. It was true. Oh, and those two bandits are tied up in a shack a few minutes East from here."

"I helped!" Ming exclaimed.

"Then I shall go at once to arrest them." Aiguo said firmly. "Jadyn, if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask."

"It was nothing, really." Jadyn smiled. "No one should have to go through something like that during the Winter Festival."

Ming and Aiguo left to collect Ming's mother and to apprehend the bandits.

Jadyn collapsed in a chair beside Po. The rest of the crowd went back to previous conversations now that the excitement was over. "Phew! This was some holiday."

"Eat!" Mr. Ping urged, shoving a bowl of noodle soup in front of Jadyn. "You poor thing. You must have been frightened."

Po laughed. "Dad, I'm pretty sure Jadyn doesn't _get _frightened."

Shifu shook his head. "And that worries me. Are you alright?"

Jadyn smiled. "Actually, never better. This is going to sound nuts, but I had fun."

Tigress snorted. "You _are _nuts."

Jadyn burst into laughter. Surrounded by festive food, friends and family, and glowing lanterns, her happy buzz returned with full force.

Yeah, the winter holiday was finally the best time of the year.

**It's been a while since I've thought of Jadyn. Well, for those of you who are still fans of her, hopefully you enjoyed this xD It's my early Christmas/holiday present to you.**

**Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!**


End file.
